A Borrowed Lighter
by Masked Guide
Summary: All characters make it out into the real word, but Garry doesn't recognize Ib. After Ib and Mary leave the exhibition, Ib finds a certain person's lighter in her pocket, even though she has no memory of him. Disclaimer: I don't own Ib, just the story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Wake up, Ib

"Just go on with out me... I'm just going to rest here... for a while... I'll catch up... Ib." Before she can protest, Garry is already quietly snoring away. She looks at his relaxed face, pondering if she should slap him again. How could he just fall asleep in the middle of... This? She can't even consider it a hallway, being that it's poorly drawn by a six year old. She grabs the lighter that fell out of his hand, turns around in a huff and walks away from the sleeping man. She's mad at him, until she sees the blue rose petals scattered in the hallway.

She follows the path of petals, climbing up stairs to find herself climbing out of the toybox. Mary quietly chant in a sing-song voice. "Loves me... Loves me not... Loves me... Loves me not." As she rips off the petals to Garry's blue rose. The rose looks tattered and beaten, with most of the petals gone already.

Mary gets to the last of the petals. "Loves me! Hooray!" Before she can tear it off, effectively ending Gary's life, Ib stops her.

"Mary, don't!" Mary looks behind her in shock, silent. She tosses the flower and runs out of the house. Ib retrieves the almost dead flower from the floor and stuffs it in her pocket. _I need to find a vase. _ She thinks to herself, walking out of the door as well. Ib jogs on the streets, trying to get out of this place as soon as possible. She enters the pink house and goes down the stairs, desperately hoping that this would take her home. The stairs turn black as she walks further down, and she gets a ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She reaches the bottom of the stairs and walks through a large entryway that looks similar to the one at the art gallery, but is completely black. _That's weird, it's the art gallery, but it's not... _She looks to her right. _And I don't remember these stairs being here... Is this the way out? _She walks down the 2nd flight of stairs, and immediately knows she's wrong, but the stairs disappear behind her, becoming a wall.

_Well, no going back now..._

* * *

(1) After going through more rooms with even stranger paintings, Ib finally collects the last of the painting pieces. A stairway opens up under the giant self-portrait. She promptly walks up them, wishing with all her might that this is the way out. She finds, instead, a bed. There's a flower vase beside it, so she places Garry's flower into it, then inspects the bed. It has a musty, old smell to it. Having only one petal left on her own rose, Ib feels immensely tired, and doesn't hesitate to lay down on the bed for a small nap. She shuts her eyes, and everything goes black.

"...Ib." _That's mom's voice. _"Happy birthday, Ib! Hee... I'll treat you today!"

_Now dad's... _"Congrats, Ib! Nine already... You've grown! You used to be such a small girl..."_ Are these are memories of my birthday?_

"There's still a lot more to go, huh, Ib?"

"Yeah, I look forward to it!...Hm? Hey you... Ahaha, you found it! Well, this is a little early... But hey! A birthday present from your father! Go on, open it!" _The present... it's a stuffed bunny, right?_

"Well Ib? There aren't many bunnies that big out there!"

"Now honey, didn't I tell you she was too old for stuffed animals?"

"Huh? Did you?"

"I did! Ib's room is already full of bunnies as it is! It hardly needs anymore!"

"W-well, but... Look! Ib loves it!"

"Ugh... Fine... Anyway, Ib, here's my own present!" _I feel like I can't focus anymore... _

"A handkerchief with your name on it! I had them make it at the store."

"A lace handkerchief... Isn't it a little... soon for Ib?"

"She's fine! She's very careful with things. We don't need to buy her new ones very often! So of course I want her to have good things early on."

"I suppose..." _I'm falling... asleep. _

"...Oh, Ib, are you sleepy?"

"You were really having fun... You must be tired, right?"

"Heehee, maybe so... How about you rest, Ib? We can keep partying when you wake, okay?"

"Yes, that would be nice. Sleep well, Ib..."

"Good night..."

..."-b"..."Ib."..."Ib!" _It's Garry's voice. _

"Ib! Wake up, Ib!" Ib's eyes shoot open and she sits up with a start.

"I... I was asleep."

Garry smiles. "I finally got you up. I've been trying for so long." He looks around. "Ib, we should go. This pace gives me the creeps. And I think Mary is still looking for us."

"How long... was I out?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but you must've dropped my flower in a vase, and that's when I woke up. Then I want looking for you. It took a long time..." Ib looks around. _  
_

"There's some stairs, over there." She remarks, pointing. "They could lead us out of here.

They both leave the bedroom, walking up the stairs. They eventually reach the fake gallery. Ib knows where to go; the place where she came in. She leads Garry to the large mural. "What's this big mural... Fabricated world? Hey, isn't that... the former gallery? Does that mean... If we jump into this, we'll go back there? But how are we supposed to jump into a painting...?"

The room flashed, and the frame disappears. "Ib, look! The frame...! Now might be out chance...!" Garry jumps into the painting. "Yes! I'm really in! Hurry up, Ib!" Ib doesn't even hesitate. She leaps into the painting and her whole vision goes white.

* * *

Ib looks around. _What... was I doing?_

She walks through the gallery, passing by many people. She gets to the other section of the building, and goes to the section she hasn't seen yet. A large rose sculpture adorns this section, as well as a man that she swears she's seen before. She goes behind him.

"What are you looking at?" Ib asks the man. He turns around.

"Hm? Well let's see... It's a rose sculpture, I guess." He turns back to face the sculpture... When I look at this sculpture... I feel somehow sorrowful... I wonder why? Ah, I'm sorry if I said anything to trouble you. What's your name?"

"Um, it's... Ib..."

"Ib?... Hm... I feel like I know that name from somewhere." He shrugs. "Oh well. My names Garry. You can just forget what I said... ... ... Well, bye." He walks away, leaving Ib to he thoughts of how she thinks she's heard his name somewhere before as well.

A few minutes pass by, and Ib grows tired of looking at art, so she goes back to the reception counter to wait for her parents. They come into view, along with a certain someone with long blonde hair. "Hey mommy! What's for dinner tonight?"

Ib's mother replies. "Come, now, Mary... Talking about dinner already?"

"Well, it's 'cause I'm hungry!" Mary notices Ib. "Ah!" She runs over to her sister. "Welcome back!" She joyfully says to Ib. She grabs her hand and leads her back to their parents. "Hey, I found Ib!"

Ib's mom looks to her. "My word , Ib! Where did you get to?" Her brows furrow. "Your mother wanted to see some exhibits with you."

Her dad grins. "Hey, it's alright. Maybe Ib just wanted to see the exhibits by herself in peace!"

Mary looks to her. "Yeah! That's it, huh, Ib?"

"... Well, in any case, we should get going soon. Mary's felling hungry already, it would seem."

Her mother speaks up. "Yes, and your mother's feeling a bit parched. Let's see if we can find a cafe."

"Yay! Cafe! Cafe!" Mary cheers. "Ib, hear that? A cafe! I can't wait to see what they have!"

"Okay, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

They leave the art gallery, Mary holding Ib's hand. Ib's mother grasps her hands behind her back. "The Guertena exhibition was quite something..."

Dad smiles at her. "Yup... I bet Ib and Mary learned a lot from it too, huh?"

"Yup! It was the best! Right, Ib?"

The child in question nods her head, smiling at her twin (2). She feels a weight in her pocket that is unfamiliar to her. She reaches inside of it, pulling out.

Ib holds up the silver rectangle. Mary notices this. "A lighter? Whoa, that's dangerous! Where'd you get that? You'd better throw that away later."

Ib looks at the lighter intently, focusing on one area in particular that has the name 'Garry' on it. _How'd I get his lighter?_

Mary shakes Ib's hand. "Hey, Ib. Wanna play when we get home?"

Ib smiles brightly. "Yeah!"

"Ooh, I'm getting excited just thinking about it! Promise me, from now on, we'll always be together, Ib!"

"Okay, I promise!"

The two walk down the street, hand in hand, headed to the cafe...

(1): I'm NOT gonna type a detailed description of everything that goes on down there. Plus, I don't want to spoil it for readers who haven't gotten the secret dungeon.

(2): Mary is as tall as Ib, so the only explanation is that they are the same (or roughly the same) age. So, the only way they could be the same age and have the same parents is Mary becomes Ib's twins once she gets out.

A/N: So there it is folks, the start of a new story! My fourth on so far, including one on The Witch's House.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Keepsake**

"Hmmm... I think I want... a chocolate ice cream!"

Ib looks at her sister with an arched brow and a smile. "Are you sure? You get that every time we come here. Why not try something different?"

"Cause' I don't want anything different." Mary returns, putting on her best pouty face.

Ib sighs, not being able to resist 'the face'. "Alright, then." She turns to the person at the register. "Hey, Duke." Ib regards the middle-aged cashier who never failed to be working while she and her sister have a sweets craving. "We'll have the usual. Mary, did you remember your money this time?" She turns back to Mary, who bears a guilty face, and is looking away, light blush on her face. Ib sighs again. "Make it a waffle cone." Mary's face instantly brights up the room as Ib hands the man the entirety of her allowance. Mary and Ib find seats in the cafe and wait for their order to be ready.

"Hey Ib? How come we always go here?" Ib looks around, smiling.

"... I don't really know. I guess ever since the first time we came here, I've always liked it here." She takes in the scenery, people milling around and placing orders in the modern-style cafe. "I'm glad we found it. What was it, five years ago?"

Mary nods. "Yup! On our ninth birthday."(1)

"Two macrons and an ice cream!" A person behind the counter yells. Ib picks up their order, handing Mary her ice cream.

She takes the frozen treat. "You're telling me to get something else, yet you always get macrons..." She mumbles.

"Yeah, I heard they were good from someone. Can't remember who, though." Ib takes a bite of the pastry. "Mmmm... They're good. You wanna taste?"

"I'll stick with my ice cream." Mary licks her chocolate ice cream.

"You excited for high school tomorrow?"

"Yeah! I bet we'll make lotsa new friends! What about you?"

Ib cringes. "I'm nervous. I have no idea what it's gonna be like." Ib begins to over-stress just thinking about it, so she pulls out her favorite keepsake and flips the lid open and closed to calm her nerves.

Mary hears the clink of the lid. "You still have that lighter?" Ib looks at it intently at it. "Are you at least going to put some more fuel in it? Seems kinda pointless carrying around an empty lighter..."

Ib looks offended. "It's not pointless." She shuts the lid and stuffs it back into her pocket. "It's somebodies lighter. And until I see that person again, I'm going to hold onto it."

"Who's is it, anyway?"

"Garry's."

"Aaaaaand... who's that?" Ib just shrugs. Mary smiles at Ib. "You know, you're really mature for your age."

"Hm? You really think so?"

"Yeah! And you're always looking out for me n' stuff."

"That's the reason I matured fast. 'Cause of you." Ib pokes her sister right in-between the eyes.

Mary recoils. "Hey!" A strand of hair falls into her deep blue eyes, to which she puffs it away.

Ib takes the last bite of her macron. "You ready?"

"No! I was talking too much!" Mary frantically licks her ice cream. Ib chuckles at her. "Whaaaaat?"

She grins. "Oh, nothing."

* * *

Ib lays in her bed next to Mary, who has a firm hold on a stuffed bunny. Ib take the lighter off of the nightstand, holding it between two fingers above her head and staring at it. She had no intention of falling asleep tonight. Whenever she does, she would have to live through the recurring nightmare, and with school tomorrow, it only made things worse. Ib rubs a hand over the imprint of the name on the lighter.

She yawns, trying desperately not to fall asleep, but her hand slowly falls to her collarbone and she has to shut her eyes, the events of the day leaving her exhausted. And of course, Ib has the same dream she's always had for the past five years; she runs from a loud bang on the door behind her, ends up in a room full of creepy things, and can't turn around. But this night it's different. Instead of getting attacked, the door behind her opens, and she gets pulled out of the room by an unknown person.

She flails and kicks in all directions, hoping to land a blow on her abductor. She is let go, and she immediately whips around. Ib sighs in relief, and jumps into Garry's arms. "I was so scarred! Don't ever leave me again!" She says, on the verge of crying.

"It's okay, Ib. You just need to wake up."

She looks up at him. "Huh?"

"Wake up, Ib. Wake up!" His voice slowly morphs into Mary's, and she opens her eyes. "Ib! We're gonna be late on our first day!"

Ib jumps out of bed. "What time is it?" She collects her clothes that have been laid out by her mother and begins to change.

"We have 30 minutes. Hurry!" Mary runs out of the bedroom.

Once dressed, Ib hurries to the door as well, but stops. She turns back, grabs the lighter, and runs to the front door.

* * *

Ib and Mary walk towards the school. The blonde haired girl happily skips along, holding her sister's hand. The students around them whisper to one another, looking at the two.

"Um, I think we're getting some weird looks, Mary." Ib notices as they walk in the entrance.

"Oh, really?" She stops skipping. "Sorry! I'm just so happy!" She smiles brightly at Ib, who smiles back at her. "What classroom are you in, Ib?" (2)

In looks at her class assignment. "Class 1-B."

Mary looks at her, disappointed."Aww, I'm in 1-D. Guess I'll see you later then." Mary lets go of Ib's hand and runs in a different direction. Ib walks to classroom 1-B, taking in all the scenery. All of the students in the classroom were talking excitedly to one another, most likely about about things not pertaining to the school. Ib sits down in a seat, right behind the only boy who was not talking to somebody else. He was a black haired boy with brown eyes and a look of boredom on his face. He uses an arm to prop up his head on the desk as he scribbles on it his it with his other hand.

The strangest thing was that the boy was actually drawing a picture in the desk with a pen, even though he wasn't looking at what he was drawing. "Hey." Ib greets the boy. No response. She tries again. "Hey!" This time the boy whips his head around with the same blank expression. "What are you drawing?" She asks politely.

The boy stares Ib down, making her feel uncomfortable. "... ...Hm. Your eyes are freaky." And with that, he turns back around and resumes his earlier activities.

_That was rude. _"You know, that was horrible first impression."

He turns again and looks at her sarcastically. "Well, I'm sorry. How about I tell you my whole life story? Is that a good first impression?" Ib stares at the back of his head. Her eyebrow twitches. _Is there something wrong with him? All I did was ask a question. _

The boy looks up to the ceiling, then back to her. "Damn." He mumbles. "Sorry... I'm just really irritable right now."

Ib folds her arms and leans back in her chair."You're not the only one."

"Yeah. I'm sorry. And... you're eyes aren't freaky. They look cool. Contacts?"

"Natural." She replies, still a little ticked.

He tilts his head. "How does that work?" Ib shrugs.

"Dunno. But my twin sister has blue eyes and blonde hair, so... I don't really know how anything works like that." The first bell rings.

"Why don't we try again?" He holds out a hand for her to shake. "My name's Andrew. But most people call me Drew."

"Hi, I'm Ib." _Well, that's a good start, I think. _She takes the hand and shakes it, looking into his eyes. For a moment, a mere moment, Andrew smiles at her. Not a friendly smile either, the type of smile that says 'I'm planning on killing you in the near future'. Sinister. Ib could swear that in that moment, his hand turned ice cold, and his stare went deadly, but the moment passes so quickly, she almost doesn't notice. Almost. His smile turns back to a friendly one.

Ib takes her hand away, thinking she must have just imagined it, so she takes out her textbooks without a second thought. The bell rings again, signaling the beginning of class.

* * *

The lunch bell rings and every student in the room gets up and gathers their things. Andrew turns to Ib. "Hey, Ib, where are you going for lunch?"

Ib points to the ceiling. "The roof."

"Oh, really? Huh. I'm going to the library." Ib raises an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Isn't eating in the library kinda... against the rules?"

Drew smirks. "Not when your dad's the librarian."

Ib gets really excited. "Really? That's awesome!" Ib didn't really like to show it, but she loved to read. Sometimes, she would stay up all night reading a good story, and she never gets tired. "Do you think I could come down later and... you know..." She looks away, embarrassed.

Drew shrugs. "There's no rule against it, is there?" He turns and walks away, giving her a wave goodbye on his way out. _Yes! I definitely made the right friend! _Ib cheers inwardly at her success. He waves one last time as he silently walks out of the door. _He's actually a nice kid, once you get to know him. _Ib spaces out a moment, before regaining her attention.

"To the roof!" She announces to nobody. Ib rushes from the classroom and heads upstairs to the roof of the school, where she promised to meet Mary. But once Ib reaches the roof, she sees no trace of her. _She should be here... I waited enough. _She ponders, retracing her steps down the stairs and to the first floor. Ib notices a group of kids all huddled around a wall. She hears them laughing and joking, all apparently directed at a single person. She was about to walk past them, paying them no regard, when she hears a cry in pain. Ib turns to the group, knowing who that cry came from.

Mary.

"Hey!" One of them turns. Ib panics. She had intended to save Mary, but she realizes she doesn't really know how to do that, considering the group consists of all boys. Ib looks at the boy intensely, and decides to just push past him. The scene makes her stomach churn in anger. One of the boys has Mary by the hair, and is tugging on it. Mary shows signs of strain, her eyes closed tightly. Ib's face gets red with anger as she pushes past more kids, arriving at the one holding her hair. She sighs.

"Look, I don't really care what this is about, but please... just let her go." Ib and Mary both had gotten a lot of this in middle school, so Ib knew how to handle it. But Mary...

"Why should I?" The boy asks slyly. Ib answers his question by kicking him with all her might right in the shin. He recoils and lets go of Mary's hair to grab his shin. Ib, expecting this, grabs Mary's hand and scurries off in the chaos, her sister close behind her. Once good and far away from the group of boys, the two stop to catch their breath. They drop their hands to their knees and try to breath normally.

"What... was that about?" Ib asks between pants.

Mary looks up at her sister. "Thanks for coming to save me." They both stand up straight, having regulated their breathing.

"It was nothing." Ib waves a hand dismissively. "But why did they do that in the first place? Did yyou do something to piss them off?"

Mary's face gets red with anger. "That's the thing! I didn't do or say anything, and they just walked up to me and started to make fun of my hair! I told them to please go away, but that one grabbed my hair. And that's when you showed up..."

"Idiots."

* * *

Mary eagerly bites her home-made sandwich, letting out a small "Mmmmm" as she chews on the bread, ham and cheese. "Ib! Come on! Put that away and eat, already!"

"I will, hold on!" Ib returns to her sketch, finding it somehow completely different than before. She erases the dark lines on the trees, planning to start over completely, and sighs heavily. "Coming." She says, now totally dissatisfied with her work.

"What are you sketching?" Mary takes another bite of her sandwich.

"Down there." Ib points off the edge of the building. "Only from the bottom. And in spring." She pulls her own meal out of a brown paper bag.

"Lemme see!" Mary snatches the sketchbook from Ib's hands, and peers over it. "Why'd you erase it? It looked so good." From what she could tell, Ib had created a beautiful black and white sketch of a blossoming cherry tree. Each individual blossom stood out in the picture, and it was almost like the tree could sway in the breeze... almost. If it wasn't for a large portion of the tree being erased.

"It... wasn't good. None of them are." Ib says with a tone of disgust woven into her words.

"Are you kidding? Here..." Mary flips through the pages of the sketchbook, obviously trying to find a certain page. "... Aaaaaannnndd here! Look at this one!" She flips it over so Ib can see it, and she recoils at the sight.

"NO! It's not good!"

"You're wrong! It IS good!" Mary shake the sketchbook to add emphasis. "I want lying when I said I though it was a black and white photo at first." Ib looks at her knees.

"... I look stupid."

"Stop being so insecure! Jeez, now who's being the more mature one here?" Ib sighs again.

"Can I have it back, now?"

Mary holds it away stubbornly. "Promise you wont erase anything."

"Yeah, I promise."

Mary hands her sister the sketchbook. "Here." Ib looks hatefully at the self-portrait. It's Ib, only a little older, with a pencil sideways in her lips and a pair of black rimmed glasses on her nose. The thing that make the sketch seem the most realistic, though, is the fact that Ib is tying her hair up in a ponytail and gazing into a blank canvas.

"I look awful. What am I even doing with my hair?"

Mary crumples up her brown paper bag. "How should I know? You're the 'arteest'."

"Well, at least I can finally get a professional's opinion on my work. We've got art next, and our art teacher has a doctorate in teaching art styles." Ib remarks, remembering that much from her schedule.

"I bet you he'll tell you what I've been telling you all along." The bell rings, signifying the end of lunch break. The two stand and head for the stairs. Ib takes out Garry's lighter and flips it open.

"We'll just have to see what he says."

**A/N**: How many people already know what's going to happen? Well, it's probably exactly what you think.

(1) Twins, remember? I don't really like the idea that Mary was adopted.

(2) I don't have a perfect knowledge of the Japanese schooling system, okay? I assume the 1 stands for freshman (and the floor), and the letter is their classroom. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.


	3. Hiatus Info

ATTENTION! I'm taking a short vacation from the following stories. If you are reading this story, this is not a new chapter, just a news flash that I wont be working on it for a while.

Fruits Of Research:

I know it's only one chapter in, but I really have other things I want to work on for a while. Namely: my two new stories, Divinity Fatum: Birth and Life. If you want to check them out, they're on my profile, as per usual. If you'd rather not dwell out of the Witch's House realm, then another good fic is The Witch and the Executioner by BlazingWrath21.

A Borrowed Lighter:

Was this even popular? I wasn't that devoted, anyways. But I'll work on it once I'm done with my break.


End file.
